Trinamool accuses Govt. of ‘not trusting its own ally’

Upset over the “manner” in which the Government got the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, an angry Trinamool Congress on Tuesday accused it of not trusting its own ally.

“We were not consulted on the issue. We are a major ally of the Government and you have to trust your own ally,” Trinamool chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters here.

While two members of Trinamool Congress in Rajya Sabha — Mukul Roy and Swapan Sadhan Bose — did not participate in the voting on the Women’s Bill, the party did not clarify what stand it would take when the legislation came up for vote in the Lok Sabha.

“We are shocked by the way in which the decision to have voting on the Bill was taken forcibly. It is improper,” the party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay told PTI.

He said the all-party meeting on Monday had decided that the issue would be “deferred for the time being” and there was no decision on going in for voting on the Bill.